A New Year Cookout

Getting to know a new person sometimes requires you to know yourself even better. A few months ago, over a conversation with my partner about managing a food and beverage budget, we agreed firstly to eat in as often as we can and secondly, we determined our criteria of dining out. And the criteria was that we shall only eat out if we can’t make it as good at home. Once we walked past an Italian restaurant serving fettucine carbonara for what would amount to a quarter of our f&b budget, we had to head to grocery to purchase some cream and pancetta and home we went for some action in the kitchen – cooking action, I mean. With such a criteria, we significantly reduced our dining out options but it was good, each time we went out, we paid a little extra and ate really satisfying and memorable meals. And we stayed within budget because despite more expensive restaurants, our infrequency kept us above the red.

New Year’s Day is when my parents celebrate their wedding anniversary and for the past 29 years, we had always dined out. Partly tired of the same old restaurants we had been frequenting in these years and partly yearning for a dinner party, my brother, his partner and I decided to don the chef’s hat instead. Yes, three executive chefs shared the kitchen and the menu.

After serious discussions on the supermarket aisle, the menu was determined. We would start with a crostini of smoked salmon and avocado cream together with a crab and melon salad. A mushroom soup will then warm the guests up before picking on pan-seared prawns wrapped in bacon. The highlight was two trays of coarse sea salt, baked for an hour then the crust cracked on the table itself to reveal a whole fish of perch – a popular dish found in Portugal.

It was quite dramatic with the sea salt scattered all over the table and some invisible ones left on the plates as biting into a piece caused a squirming face. So we had to make sure our guests left with a sweet experience from a warm plate of open apple puffs and vanilla.

For my parents, we know that this is one dinner that they’ll never be able to enjoy in any restaurant.